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• Bonza airline passengers left stranded across Australia
• CEO says move ‘a surprise to both ourselves and 777 Partners’

There are fresh questions about the financial health of the American private investment firm hoping to take over Everton after passenger planes belonging to an Australian airline it owns were repossessed and its carrier left on the brink of collapse.

777 Partners – which has loaned Everton more than £200m in the seven months it has been unsuccessfully attempting to convince the Premier League it has the funds to complete a proposed takeover of the Toffees – is in the grips of a new crisis in Australia, where an airline it wholly owns, Bonza, entered administration on Tuesday.

Jamie Vardy led the celebrations on and off the pitch as Leicester secured the Championship title. The striker, the only player remaining from the Premier League triumph, scored twice to down Preston to confirm Leicester will return to the top-flight as champions.

The 37-year-old remains an ­influential figure in the dressing room but with his contract expiring at the end of the season, his future is up in the air. It was a case of the old and the new securing top spot as Vardy built the platform for victory before the academy graduate Kasey McAteer added the third.

While Harry Kane has navigated his career like he always has another season, his England teammate plays like this is his last

There were a few tourists from Madrid taking selfies outside the Allianz Arena on Monday lunchtime and, as footballing pilgrimages go, this is one you really have to want. Wedged between two major road junctions and approached either through a concrete jungle of slip roads or a 40-minute schlep on the train followed by a long trudge past a sewage treatment plant, perhaps the nicest thing you can say about the location of Bayern Munich’s stadium is that it at least offers easy access to everywhere else.

How many times will Harry Kane have to peer at this stadium through blacked-out windows before it begins to feel like home? The language will take years to master, if he ever manages it. The Allianz does not feel like a part of Munich in the way that the Estadio Bernabéu looms above Madrid or the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium dominates the High Road. And, of course, his name has already been made at the boyhood club that still has a buy-back clause for him. However long he stays at Bayern, on some level home will always be somewhere else.

• Manchester clubs and Aston Villa oppose ‘anchoring’ concept
• PFA opposed to ‘hard’ cap on wages; Chelsea abstain from vote

A majority of Premier League clubs have voted to explore measures that would put a cap on player spending, with only Manchester United, Manchester City and Aston Villa voting against.

Plans for a new “anchoring” concept that would limit spending on wages, transfer fees and agent fees to a multiple of the TV revenue generated by the league’s bottom club were at the centre of the latest meeting of the shareholder clubs. If approved, anchoring would be a key component of the league’s proposed new financial rules, but the deal is not guaranteed to be done.

• Fifa has concerns over running of Zambia’s football association
• Letter warns that there may be ‘grounds for the suspension’

Zambia’s women could miss out on playing at this summer’s Olympics after Fifa threatened the country’s football association with suspension amid accusations of money-laundering offences against its president and “undue influence by third parties”.

Andrew Kamanga, the FAZ president since 2016, was last week charged by Zambia’s drug enforcement commission with obtaining government funds under false pretences and being part of a conspiracy to defraud. It has been alleged that he used the money to fund trips for two associates to the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast this year. The general secretary, Reuben Kamanga, was also charged, along with Madalitso Kamanga and Jairous Siame, who travelled to the tournament as part of FAZ’s support staff. All have denied the charges.

• Two nations will instead focus on securing 2031 tournament
• Brazil to rival joint bid for Belgium, Germany and Netherlands

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup. The two nations will instead focus on securing the 2031 edition, their national governing bodies said on Monday.

The decision comes just weeks before the Fifa Congress chooses the tournament hosts on 17 May. It leaves Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands as the remaining candidates to host the 2027 event.

• Indications that Milan have developed cold feet over manager
• Coventry’s Callum O’Hare and Hull’s Jacob Greaves on wish list

West Ham have revived their move for Julen Lopetegui after learning of Milan developing second thoughts about appointing the Spaniard as their manager.

It had emerged over the weekend that Milan were close to agreeing a deal for Lopetegui to replace Stefano Pioli this summer. West Ham, who are strong contenders to sign the Coventry winger Callum O’Hare on a free transfer and the Hull centre-back Jacob Greaves, were thought to be out of the running for the former Wolves manager.

• Saif Alrubie in court over message sent to Marina Granovskaia
• Case related to payment he said he was owed for role in transfer

A top football agent has been acquitted of sending an intimidating email message to the former Chelsea director of football Marina Granovskaia – the so-called “right hand” of the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

The agent, Saif Alrubie, 45, was cleared by a jury of seven men and five women on Monday at Southwark crown court. They unanimously found he was not guilty of sending an “electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety”, after deliberating for more than four hours.

Club are in the Coppa Italia final, the Europa League semis and battling for Champions League football in a remarkable season

What was the precise moment that Gian Piero Gasperini allowed himself to start believing? Was it at Anfield, watching Mario Pasalic casually side-foot home the goal that put Atalanta 3-0 ahead against Liverpool? Or during the second leg in Bergamo, seeing his team glide through the final 45 minutes of the tie without any truly nervy moments despite Mo Salah’s first-half penalty?

Perhaps it was only after the referee’s whistle had confirmed Atalanta’s place in the semi-final. Not until Sunday did we hear him acknowledge it publicly. “At this moment, the Europa League is the objective we are holding too most tightly,” said Gasperini at the end of a 2-0 Serie A win over Empoli. “We need to stay focused though. Marseille are a strong team.”

• Kulusevski and Van de Ven lament easy goals conceded
• Arsenal ‘much more disciplined’ in 3-2 defeat, Swede says

Tottenham’s players have highlighted the mentality of Arsenal as the difference between the clubs. Dejan Kulusevski and Micky van de Ven poured out their frustrations after Sunday’s 3-2 home defeat in the derby, lamenting the softness of the concessions, in particular.

Two of Arsenal’s goals came on corners – one a Pierre-Emile Højbjerg own goal, the other a free header for Kai Havertz. It is an area of increasing concern for Spurs. They have conceded six times from corners in the past nine games and their record of 14 goals against from set pieces (excluding penalties) is the joint fifth-worst in the Premier League. Arsenal have scored a division-high 22 set-piece goals (excluding penalties).

• Hollywood stars join Club Necaxa ownership group
• Mexican top flight second most-watched league in US

Actors and Wrexham AFC owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have bought a minority stake in the Liga MX side Club Necaxa, Variety and Sportico reported on Monday.

The pair join celebrity minority owners actor Eva Longoria, Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander, model Kate Upton and NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.

An end-of-season wobble has ended any hopes of a dream send off. But it’s characteristic of Klopp’s managerial career

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And so there will be no glorious farewell for Jürgen Klopp. Saturday’s 2-2 draw with West Ham, coupled with victories for Manchester City and Arsenal, means any realistic hope of a second Premier League title is effectively over. Klopp is exhausted, his team is exhausted and the manic emotional energy that gripped the side during the League Cup final and immediately after has dissipated.

There will be questions about the wisdom of revealing when he did that he would be leaving. This has been a truism if English soccer since Alex Ferguson announced in 2001 that he planned to quit Manchester United. Do that, even if you’re as fearsome a figure as Ferguson, and the danger is that authority wanes. Something similar seems to have happened with Emma Hayes, who will leave Chelsea Women in the summer after a hugely successful 12-year stint to take charge of the USWNT. Would Saturday’s touchline spat with Mohamed Salah have happened had the Egyptian thought that Klopp would still be his manager next season? (It now seems likely that Salah, who has only a year left on his contract, will also leave in the summer).

A third-tier goalkeeper stole headlines in Spain, where Rodrigo de Paul’s assessment of his team was a talking point

“Football is so capricious that when Sunday comes maybe he’ll make us happy,” Javi Rey said. For the first time ever, Club Deportivo Arenteiro, the team from O Carballiño that were playing in the Galician regional league six years ago that he now manages, were heading to Riazor, twice the size of their town, to face Deportivo de La Coruña.

Without a goalkeeper. Diego Garcia and Manu Figueroa were injured; Pablo Brea is on loan from their opponents, who had applied one of those clauses; and the emergency signing, Pablo Picon, fell through, leaving them no choice but to stick the goalie coach in nets, an unexpected hero waiting to happen.

Sporting director had to play the role of Malcolm Tucker as Uli Hoeness criticised Thomas Tuchel before the big semi-final

Max Eberl was hot property for a reason. In just shy of 15 years at Borussia Mönchengladbach he became one of Europe’s most admired sporting directors, returning one of Germany’s most famous names to prominence through multiple qualifications for the Champions League and Europa League. He built through smart signings and the promotion and development of quality academy products. The only surprise was that it took ill health – which he has thankfully recovered from – to shift him from his post rather than the overtures of one of the continent’s giants.

His experience and his clarity of thought is clear, with his work having spoken for itself over a number of years. The 50-year-old has also ridden out bumps in his career path, such as the venomous reaction of some Gladbach supporters to his choice to join RB Leipzig, and then Leipzig’s decision to abruptly part ways with him in September last year when they felt he was flirting with the possibility of work elsewhere.

Chelsea fall agonisingly short in Europe while teenage goalscorer Issy Hobson grabs the headlines for Everton

Emma Hayes praised the Chelsea fans who watched the team’s Champions League exit to Barcelona at a sold-out Stamford Bridge on Saturday and urged them to return next season. “The crowd were fantastic, they really were,” said Hayes. “I could feel their energy and they were really pushing us. I hope the club builds on it and they make sure they return. The most important thing for me is that they keep coming back.” Hayes also expressed fury at the decision-making of the officials, with the defeat marred by the sending off of Kadeisha Buchanan and penalty awarded to Barcelona for a foul in Aitana Bonmatí that ensured a 2-0 defeat on the night and 2-1 loss on aggregate. “Tonight is a tough one to take as we felt we didn’t really get a chance to lose,” she said. Suzanne Wrack

Match report: Chelsea 0-2 Barcelona (1-2 on aggregate)

Match report: Paris Saint-Germain SG 1-2 Lyon (3-5 on aggregate)

Match report: Bristol City 0-4 Manchester City

• Brazilian, 39, was hero of club’s 2021 Champions League win
• Silva joined in 2020 from PSG and has made 151 appearances

Thiago Silva, Chelsea’s veteran defender, has announced that this season will be his last at Stamford Bridge.

The 39-year-old Brazilian, a mainstay of the Blues team that lifted the Champions League in 2021, revealed the news on social media. “Chelsea means a lot to me, I came here with the intention of only staying for a year and it ended up being four years,” wrote Silva, who joined from Paris Saint-Germain in 2020.

• Arsenal keeper gifted goal to Spurs that inspired late barrage
• Raya pleased with his response that ensured side took the win

It was the kind of mistake, so aberrant and out of keeping with everything before it, that can derail an entire season’s work. David Raya’s blunder at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was hardly on the scale of a Steven Gerrard slip but, as Spurs took grateful receipt of the gift and threw everything into a late barrage on the Arsenal goal, there was the short-lived sense that one simple miscue could prove decisive.

Would Raya have attempted a sand-wedged pass to Thomas Partey if Arsenal had not been three goals up? Perhaps not. Would Cristian Romero, a centre-back, have been the man to intercept and score if Spurs had not needed a performative show of buccaneering to rouse them? That seems especially unlikely. The afternoon’s tone transformed but what ultimately mattered for Mikel Arteta’s side was that Raya rediscovered his composure and, in those dying moments, dominated his box to see them home.

• Forward refused to shake manager’s hand on Saturday
• Club believe he will play under new coach next season

Liverpool remain relaxed about Mohamed Salah’s future and expect the forward to stay next season, when he will enter the final 12 months of his contract.

Salah’s touchline row with ­Jürgen Klopp at West Ham on Saturday, when he refused to shake the Liverpool manager’s hand before coming on as a substitute, prompted speculation over the Egypt international’s future and fresh questions over whether he will look to move to Saudi Arabia this summer.

• Bristol City 0-4 Manchester City
• Teenager Hobson stuns Arsenal with late leveller

Manchester City extended their lead at the top of the Women’s Super League to six points with a 4-0 win at Bristol City that relegated their hosts after only one season. Second-placed Chelsea can draw level at the summit by winning their two games in hand.

But City’s win ended Arsenal’s interest in the title race after the Gunners were held 1-1 by Everton earlier in the day.

Lyon reached their 11th Women’s Champions League final and will hope to win a ninth European Cup in Bilbao after holding off Paris Saint-Germain by winning 2-1 at the Parc des Princes to complete a 5-3 aggregate win over their fellow French team. Melchie Dumournay’s late goal confirmed progress to the Basque capital after PSG had been held at arm’s length for most of the second leg.

After defending champions Barcelona broke Chelsea hearts in Emma Hayes’ final season, the club coached by Sonia Bompastor, widely linked with the vacant Chelsea vacancy, held off PSG with a combination of sharp finishing and steady defending.

Erling Haaland grabs vital goal, Richard Masters gets a Molineux earful and Brighton’s season fades out

Ange Postecoglou found enough blue sky in the Spurs squad he inherited to make a pair of sailor’s trousers out of the opening 10 games of the season. The rest of the season since then feels like a return to the mean. Spurs would currently be eighth in the Premier League if their form outside of that supercharged start was rolled out across an entire season. Fifth place is probably above par for this miscellaneous group of players and the manager’s own first look at the league. And while defeat in the north London derby will sting, as will the high likelihood now that Spurs will finish outside the Champions League spots, it is also important to remember that fast start was also real, a taster of how Postecoglou can make this team hum with the right ingredients. Spurs are well-placed financially. The lesson here is that Daniel Levy needs to back his man in the summer – does this sound at all familiar? – and build on the good times of Ange Year Zero before any judgment can begin to be passed on the ultimate ceiling of this Spurs iteration. Barney Ronay

Match report: Tottenham 2-3 Arsenal

Match report: Nottingham Forest 0-2 Manchester City

Match report: West Ham 2-2 Liverpool

Match report: Manchester United 1-1 Burnley

Match report: Everton 1-0 Brentford

Match report: Bournemouth 3-0 Brighton

The fact that Montpellier could still qualify for Europe or be relegated shows how tight and tense the run-in will be this year

By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News

PSG have already been crowned Ligue 1 champions but there is no chance of the season petering out. As May approaches, the word “permutations” makes its annual appearance in the footballing lexicon, bringing with it a sense of powerlessness and paranoia. The relationship between a club’s onfield performances and success is complicated – everything becomes contingent upon what is happening elsewhere and words heard uttered through hand-held radios or notifications popping-up on smartphone screens can engender hopelessness or euphoria in equal measure.

This is usually reserved for the final day of the season but it has already been reached in Ligue 1 with three rounds of games to play. Deciphering the various scenarios in the league feels like solving a Rubik’s cube – each time you think you have resolved the puzzle, it reverts into its muddled form.

German operated at his own pace in the north London noise, passing beautifully, holding the ball up and punishing Spurs

With 96 minutes gone in this agreeably fevered north London derby a small, stricken-looking man in a tracksuit could be seen leaping across the touchline at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, arms waving furiously, before being dragged back off the pitch by the fourth official.

Arsenal’s Nicolas Jover has been a pioneer of the fashion for set-piece coaches to pop up at every designated opportunity and assume a look of urgent command, apparently convinced that their presence sightly closer to the pitch, their personal voodoo, their revolving index fingers, will somehow affect events on it.

Maybe all things Luton are behind Forest’s difficulties but against Pep Guardiola’s men, they failed to get the basics right

There is no better way to rally the base than to insist there is an external conspiracy. Everything would be fine if it weren’t for them. We’re being derailed by – delete as appropriate – the Rosicrucians, the Illuminati, the Masons, giant lizards or, most fearsome of all the shadowy string-pullers, the celebrity Luton fans.

Nottingham Forest are threatened with relegation not because they cannot defend set plays, because they do not take their chances or because they bought 34 players over two transfer windows, a splurge that put them in breach of profitability and sustainability regulations and led to them being docked four points. No, they sit a point above the drop zone because of the nefarious forces ranged against them. Who was the referee when Forest beat Luton in the 1959 Cup final? Jack Clough of Bolton. Can it be coincidence that he shares his surname with Forest’s greatest manager? No wonder Luton are out for revenge.

Bukayo Saka performed on the big occasion for the title hopefuls while Pierre-Emile Højbjerg had an afternoon to forget

Guglielmo Vicario: 6/10 Helpless for all of Arsenal’s goals and could justifiably lament the lack of protection from his defence. Superb second-half save from Saka kept things respectable.

Ugly row with Jürgen Klopp on the London Stadium touchline shows the Egyptian’s focus has waned

When it comes to picking one image to symbolise the end of an era at Liverpool, Jürgen Klopp’s quarrel with Mohamed Salah on the London Stadium touchline will take some beating. This is what happens when power slips away. This, sadly, is the way that it ends.

We will have to speculate about the specific reason behind the row that grabbed the attention after Liverpool’s deflating 2-2 draw with West Ham on Saturday. West Ham’s equaliser had arrived before Klopp, who had been waiting to make a triple substitution, was able to introduce Salah, Darwin Núñez and Joe Gomez. The manager seemed miffed and appeared to admonish Salah, whose angry response made it very clear that he had zero interest in listening to any criticism.

Arne Slot caught the eye of Liverpool’s recruitment team with his track record of improving young talent, success on a relatively modest budget, European experience and a style of play that is not a dramatic departure from Jürgen Klopp’s. The Feyenoord coach has earned a reputation for high intensity on the pitch and has led his team to success multiple times.

Since joining the Rotterdam club from AZ Alkmaar in 2021, Slot has won the Eredivisie in 2022-23 and the KNVB Cup this season. He also led Feyenoord to the Europa Conference League final in 2022, where they lost to José Mourinho's Roma.

• Arne Slot: the overachiever and ‘good guy’ who can spark a revolution

Thiago Silva, Chelsea’s veteran defender, has announced that this season will be his last at Stamford Bridge. The 39-year-old Brazilian, a mainstay of the Blues team that lifted the Champions League in 2021, revealed the news on social media. An emotional Silva spoke of leaving the door open for a return, 'albeit in another role' saying 'goodbyes are for those that leave and don't come back. I intend on coming back one day'. Silva has made 151 appearances for the club and also won the Fifa Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup.

• ‘An indescribable love’: Thiago Silva announces departure from Chelsea

Thousands of jubilant Internazionale fans took to the streets around San Siro Stadium to celebrate the club's historic 20th Serie A title with the players. The newly-crowned champions paraded through hoards of fans after a straightforward 2-0 win over 10-man Torino

Emma Hayes called the referees' decision to send off Chelsea defender Kadeisha Buchanan as the 'worst in Women's Champions League history', as her side crashed out to Barcelona at the semi-final stage with a 2-0 defeat. The tie was level at 1-1 from the first leg, with Aitana Bonmatí cancelling out Erin Cuthbert's strike, but the game at Stamford Bridge turned decisively against Chelsea in the second leg. Buchanan stretched for a loose ball and was judged to have caught Patri Guijarro on the ankle, with referee Iuliana Demetrescu showing the Blues defender a second yellow card. Chelsea were left to hold off the European champions for the final 30 minutes with 10 players.

The Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, has defended Marcus Rashford after the England forward criticised the abuse he has received this season and said on social media 'enough is enough'. Rashford is enduring a disappointing campaign in which he has scored only eight times in 41 appearances for Manchester United, having managed a career-high 30 goals last season. At 12.36am on Friday Rashford retweeted a post on X, formerly Twitter, that said: 'The way Marcus Rashford is being treated is absolutely disgusting. It’s cruel. It’s abuse.' Above this he wrote: 'I appreciate your support! It is abuse and has been for months. Enough is enough.'

• ‘Enough is enough’: Marcus Rashford hits out after receiving months of abuse

• Premier League: 10 things to look out for in this weekend’s football

The Liverpool manager, Jürgen Klopp, has praised his potential replacement, Arne Slot, as the Dutchman closes on a move to the Premier League. Slot has emerged as the frontrunner for the job with his track record of improving young talent, success on a relatively modest budget, European experience and a style of play that is not a dramatic departure from Klopp’s, all appealing to Anfield’s recruitment team. Speaking before his side's trip to West Ham on Saturday, Klopp described Arne as a 'good coach' and a 'good guy', while also praising his style of football.

• Jürgen Klopp hails potential Liverpool successor Arne Slot: football news – live

• Arne Slot: the overachiever and ‘good guy’ who can spark a revolution

• Arne Slot admits he wants to succeed Jürgen Klopp as Liverpool manager

• 65,612 in attendance at Gillette Stadium for Miami’s 4-1 win
• Messi has 16 goal contributions this season

Lionel Messi scored two goals to excite a record New England Revolution crowd, leading Inter Miami to a 4-1 victory on Saturday night.

Messi did not disappoint the crowd of 65,612 that filled Gillette Stadium, scoring with a left-footed shot from deep inside the box for his ninth goal of the season, putting his side 2-1 up in the 68th minute.

Announcement was no shock but reflects environment shift at club and an appetite to find stability after a dismal week

Being the Barcelona manager is “cruel and unpleasant” Xavi Hernández said, but in the end it is all he ever wanted, all he has got. He is all they have got too. And so on Wednesday night, three days after any lingering hopes of winning the league were extinguished, eight days after being knocked out of Europe again, 88 after announcing he was leaving and calling it a “liberation”, he decided that he would continue after all. Ultimately, he just could not let go and nor could they.

“I have no problem changing my mind,” Xavi said on Thursday. When he had said he was leaving on 27 January, Barcelona had just conceded five at home for the first time in 60 years, a defeat he described as a portrait of their season: self-inflicted and absurd, a complete collapse. He had previously linked his continuity to trophies, the first law of coaching; beaten 5-3 by Villarreal, they were 10 points off the top. They had also lost to Real Madrid in the Super Cup final and to Athletic in the Copa del Rey quarters, conceding four in each. Besides, it went deeper than defeats.

Simone Inzaghi’s thrilling tactics have seen Nerazzurri pull clear of their city rivals – and the rest of the Italian top flight

How else could it end but like this: tempers boiling over and the red card being shown to one player after another as Inter sealed their 20th league title with a win over neighbours Milan? Denzel Dumfries and Théo Hernández were first to be sent off after squaring up in midfield at the start of injury time. Milan’s Davide Calabria followed moments later for throwing a forearm into the face of Davide Frattesi at a corner.

And then the final whistle went, transforming a ruck into revelry as the rest of Inter’s players and staff rushed from the dugout to join their colleagues on San Siro’s pitch. They carried giant Scudetto shields displaying the No 20 against the colours of the Italian flag. The two Milan clubs began this season tied on 19 league titles apiece. Now Inter will be the first to affix a second gold star to their club badge.

The latest MLS franchise is owned by the Right to Dream academy. They plan to use a model inspired by LeBron James to carve out a new path in US soccer

Major League Soccer will integrate its 30th club at the beginning of the 2025 season when expansion side San Diego FC joins the Western Conference.

But the league’s latest addition will arrive with a model for on-field success, development and business unlike the other 29 teams.

Having reached their first playoff semi-final, the eastern Indian club are looking to make the most of their untapped potential

It was an unforgettable weekend for Raj Athwal. On Friday night, the only British chief executive of an Indian Super League (ISL) club, Odisha FC, watched them beat Kerala Blasters 2-1 to reach the last four of the Championship playoffs in the most dramatic fashion. On Sunday, he then saw his beloved Coventry City, where he worked for over a decade, lose to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals in the narrowest fashion.

Wembley outdid Kalinga Stadium in the drama and excitement stakes, but not by much. With three minutes remaining, Odisha were a goal down and a fine season was coming to an end.

• Lamine Yamal’s strike in 3-2 loss on Sunday not given by VAR
• Barça believe ball crossed the line and could demand replay

Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, has threatened legal action and could demand a replay after his side were denied a goal against Real Madrid at the weekend.

Lamine Yamal thought he had scored in the 28th minute of Sunday’s 3-2 clásico loss at the Bernabéu but the on-pitch officials did not rule the ball had crossed the line, and after a lengthy VAR check, their decision stood. La Liga does not use goalline technology.

Memories of an underwhelming start to his managerial career are fading as the Australian targets a continental final with Yokohama

Harry Kewell’s coaching journey has been unconventional, to say the least. His previous job ended at the bottom of England’s fifth tier, but he is now just three games away from a continental title and a place in the Club World Cup. Fifa’s expanded 2025 tournament in the United States would be worth an estimated $80m to Yokohama F Marinos but for the Australian’s coaching credentials it would be priceless.

On Wednesday, the five-time Japanese champions, coached by Kewell since the turn of this year, host Ulsan HD in the second leg of their Asian Champions League semi-final. The South Korean side have a 1-0 advantage from last week, but there is all to play for at Yokohama International Stadium.

Return of Mikautadze, last year’s Ligue 2 player of the season, from Ajax has been mutually beneficial for player and club

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

In Ligue 1’s maiden season with 18 teams, one had the feeling that some had little chance of staying up. Fewer teams theoretically projects to a higher average standard, but it also means sides lacking in quality are likely to be found out.

That axiom has generally held true – through the course of the season, most sides, even in the bottom half, have been able to call on a player who is superlative in their position, or at least capable of conjuring something out of nothing. Le Havre may be an exception owing to the hard-driving ethos put in place by Luka Elsner but Nantes (Moses Simon), Montpellier (Téji Savanier) and Toulouse (Thijs Dallinga) all have players with a bit of magic.

The Adelaide United sensation has started taking German lessons but is happy to let his football do most of the talking for now

His head is mostly bowed. In front of the TV cameras he sways with nerves, sometimes even giggles. The shy demeanour of Australian prodigy Nestory Irankunda off the field stands in juxtaposition to his powerful, decisive presence on it.

Three months away from his eagerly anticipated move to German giants Bayern Munich from Adelaide, the 18-year-old was, on Tuesday, one of the first players named for the A-League All Stars’ clash against Newcastle United in Melbourne on 24 May.

Erling Haaland has been voted the best player in the world for 2023 by our 218-strong panel, with Jude Bellingham finishing second

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Aitana Bonmatí, Sam Kerr and Salma Paralluelo top the list of female footballers in the world in 2023 according to our judges

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The Norwegian is only 23 but his devastating goal record has seen him voted as the No 1 player in the world by the Guardian’s expert panel

When Pep Guardiola tearfully claimed Manchester City could not replace the departing Sergio Agüero in May 2021, he didn’t just create a meme. Guardiola was soft-launching a global audition for his team’s new attacking talisman. An unsuccessful pursuit of Harry Kane in the summer of 2021 came between two title-winning seasons where Ilkay Gündogan (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (15) were the club’s top league goalscorers. Guardiola’s slick creative machine needed a new front man, and they found him in Erling Haaland.

Like Agüero before him – and in contrast to many of City’s most successful Pep-era signings – Haaland arrived as a bona fide superstar, a plug-and-play addition to an already stellar lineup. Whether he was a bargain is another question. The release clause paid was €60m (£51.2m), but some reports suggest Haaland’s five-year deal could cost the club in the region of £300m. And while there was an ominous logic to the move for City’s rivals, questions remained.

Aitana Bonmatí the clear winner of the Guardian’s best 100 female footballers in the world with 15 Spaniards on the list

• The 100 best female footballers in the world 2023

After Alexia Putellas reigned in 2021 and 2022, her Barcelona and Spain teammate Aitana Bonmatí has been crowned the top female footballer of 2023 by the Guardian’s panel of 112 experts. The World Cup winner triumphed by a clear margin, finishing more than 500 points ahead of second-placed Sam Kerr.

Injuries and a World Cup meant there was a definite changing of the guard feel to this year’s list, sadly emphasised by the fact last year’s top two – Putellas and Beth Mead – missed a large chunk of our 12-month voting period with ACL injuries.

The England manager’s honesty and systems expertise are just what is needed at the haunted house Old Trafford has become

And so we entered the age of the noble, blameless bald men. This is a pretty good moment to be Ineos at Manchester United. Nothing really matters yet. Every problem is someone else’s problem. Every solution is your own.

For now you’re just hope, blue sky. You’re a silent reproach on a gantry. You’re a tieless Tony Blair jamming with Shed Seven in the Downing Street garden. And even the bad things are kind of good, because you’re not the bad things.

Manager’s departure news is not to blame for his side losing their grasp on two, quite possibly three, trophies in quick time

In isolation, Jürgen Klopp did not have to apologise for losing for the first time in eight visits to Goodison Park. Bad nights happen. In the context of Liverpool’s sorry end to the season, however, an apology felt entirely appropriate.

“I really feel for the people, I am really sorry for that,” said the Liverpool manager after Wednesday’s derby defeat by Everton. “We never lost here before and that feels really different. I really apologise for that.” Klopp’s voice and choice of words captured Liverpool’s mood as the prospects of giving their manager a fitting send-off evaporated. Deflation. Yes, a new-look team was not expected to mount a title challenge this season. That is not a default excuse for recent underperformance. Yes, a quadruple is a fanciful ambition. That does not explain how Liverpool have allowed two, quite possibly three, trophies to slip from their grasp in less than six weeks.

For the teams at the bottom of the food chain, England’s top flight has come to resemble an abusive relationship

And you may ask yourself: how do I work this?

And you may ask yourself: what happened to that three-man midfield?

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Almost a year to the day since Sheffield United won promotion to the Premier League, their all-too-predictable relegation back to the Championship was confirmed. They went up with three games to spare. They went back down with three games to spare. And in the 366 days that have passed since a vastly superior United team booked their place in the top flight with a win over West Brom, Blades fans have seen them win just three times at Bramall Lane, with one of those coming in last season’s final home game. What with it being the hope that kills you, having their fate sealed with a few games still left in the calendar must surely feel more of a merciful release than the crushing disappointment cheerleaders for The Best League In The World™ would have you believe.

I have yet to come to terms with Jürgen Klopp’s impending departure from Anfield, much less the news about his likely replacement. You might say I’m trying to cop that top spot for the Kop’s Klopp slot is Slot” – Peter Oh.

With reference to your impassioned diatribe about the Championship (Friday’s Football Daily); we hear ya. However, I think even its biggest cheerleaders would concede that most would still choose to watch the Premier League if forced to pick sides. Don’t shoot the messenger!” – Anthony Brady.

As you say, lots to love about the Colchester v Derby photo (Friday’s Memory Lane, full email edition), not least the credit: Photograph: Eamonn McCabe” – Iggy.

Re: Arsenal supporter Anne Hathaway (last Wednesday’s Still Want More, full email edition). In one of her most famous films, she embarks on a trip to the edge of a black hole, watching as all the energy is drained from anything straying too close to its gravitational pull. Are you sure she’s not a Manchester United fan?” – Simon Mazier.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Simon Mazier.

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Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jordan Jarrett-Bryan, and Jonathan Wilson to discuss latest Premier League action and beyond

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On the podcast today: the panel discuss all the weekend’s Premier League action, including the north London derby, as Arsenal put the pressure on Manchester City with a 3-2 win over Tottenham. With a routine win for City despite Forest playing well and West Ham holding Liverpool to a 2-2 draw, surely we can now conclude that the Premier League is a two-horse race?

Plus: players injured warming up on touchline, points-per-game differentials of long-serving players and more

• Mail us your questions or tweet @TheKnowledge_GU

“Leverkusen’s Bundesliga title win has broken Kingsley Coman’s remarkable run of winning the league in each of the last 11 seasons (with PSG, Juventus and Bayern). Can any player in world football ever boast of a longer run of consecutive league titles?” asks Richard Forsythe.

“It’s worth bearing in mind that Coman technically won 12 league titles in 11 seasons,” writes Sean DeLoughry, who gets the ball rolling as we spin off from this 2022 question and answer. “He played once for Juventus in Serie A at the start of the 2015-16 season before joining Bayern.

Our cartoonist on the scrapping of replays, fixture congestion, drama at Wembley and that Nottingham Forest statement

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Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzanne Wrack for an interview with Fifpro representatives, Sarah Gregorius and Alex Culvin, plus Dutch international, Merel van Dongen, to discuss how footballers are being affected by the packed schedule. Also, Sophie Downey rounds up the weekend action in the Champion’s League and WSL

Today’s pod features an exclusive interview with representatives from the global players’ union, Fifpro, who, alongside the Netherlands defender Merel van Dongen, share their views on how footballers are being affected by the packed schedule.

The panel also discuss Chelsea's inspired Champions League win against Barcelona, Manchester City retaking the WSL lead, Arsenal securing European football, Palace's Championship title charge and relegation for Lewes …

Liverpool await a dead-ball salvo, Luton have to keep their chins up and things could get spicy at City Ground

David Moyes will surely have taken note of Liverpool’s struggle to defend set pieces against Everton. Jürgen Klopp, who must be delighted with a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, should prepare his team for another bruising test when they visit West Ham. For Moyes, this is a chance to repair the sizeable damage to his reputation caused by last weekend’s collapse at Selhurst Park. West Ham were 4-0 down to Palace after 31 minutes and are preparing to part company with Moyes at the end of the season, but they should take heart from how Everton unsettled Liverpool in the Merseyside derby. Everton scored twice from set pieces and West Ham pose a similar threat from dead balls. James Ward-Prowse’s deliveries towards Tomas Soucek, Kurt Zouma and Michail Antonio will have Klopp’s defenders sweating. Jacob Steinberg

West Ham v Liverpool, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)

Fulham v Crystal Palace, Saturday 3pm

Newcastle v Sheffield United, Saturday 3pm

Manchester United v Burnley, Saturday 3pm

Hashtag United’s Emma Samways was stunned to receive a £9,200 bill after suffering an ACL injury in a cup match

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For any player, the prospect of an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is incredibly daunting. The Arsenal winger Beth Mead described her experience as “mentally and physically gruelling,” while the England captain, Leah Williamson, doubted she would return from her own setback.

Suffering an ACL injury means a prolonged period on the sidelines, usually between nine and 12 months. Professional players receive the best treatment to ensure they can return as soon as possible and without financial strain. But that isn’t the case for every player in England, especially female footballers playing outside the Women’s Super League and Championship. The Hashtag United winger Emma Samways, who plays in the third tier of English football, ruptured her ACL during a National League Cup semi-final against Halifax. It was an incident that put her life on pause.

Chelsea earn chance to make history, City keep the pressure on at the top and the Holmgaards produce some magic for Everton

“Our team did a lot to limit chances as a whole. You can only do that together and not individually. The team as a whole did that job well today. Everything has to be perfect for you to get close to winning a game of football [against Barcelona],” said Emma Hayes after Chelsea’s 1-0 win over in the first leg of their Women’s Champions League semi-final and that, really, was the crux of their success. They defended as a team, attacked as a team, held their shape collectively and achieved perfection when executing the gameplan. Can they do it again in the second leg at Stamford Bridge? It will be difficult to make lightening strike twice, but the belief will be there. Hayes wants to see a sellout crowd at Stamford Bridge because her players “deserve to play in front of a full house to give ourselves the best possible chance.” There is certainly no greater opportunity for a sellout crowd than history beckoning. Suzanne Wrack

Match report: Barcelona 0-1 Chelsea

WSL roundup: Shaw double helps City move top

Minute-by-minute report: Manchester Utd 2-2 Tottenham

Minute-by-minute report: Arsenal 3-0 Leicester

The 82-year-old’s impact on football goes far beyond his own success with the advice he gives to up-and-coming managers

At around this time in 2006, soon after Chelsea beat Manchester United at Stamford Bridge to secure a second successive league title, Sir Alex Ferguson’s phone rang. It was some bloke called Aidy Boothroyd, at the time just some gobby, upstart young coach who had somehow landed his Watford team in the Championship playoffs. “I phoned him up, asked for some advice and he gave me some pearls,” Boothroyd said later. “He lent me a couple of books and he’s always been at the end of the phone if I ever need any help. I think he does that for everybody.”

I remember being surprised by this at the time. Ferguson was 64, had already retired once, had won eight English league titles, was at the time the subject of savage and, it soon transpired, wildly misplaced criticism due to his side’s poor performance (they still finished second), and was just gearing up to win the league again in each of the next three years and five of the next seven. He had, in short, plenty on his plate already without being pestered for tips by fanboys. And yet there he was, lending books to Aidy Boothroyd. “He will always pick up the phone or phone you back if he can’t get to you the first time,” Boothroyd said the following year. “I’ve never known him not to call back.”

Star striker talks achieving another promotion, potentially making scoring history and finding acceptance in his son’s autism

‘The desire to win will be the same as every other game,” Paul Mullin says as he anticipates a Hollywood-style finale for Wrexham on Saturday afternoon while their fans at home and around the world celebrate a second straight promotion. Wrexham’s last game in League Two is against the new champions, Stockport County, and Mullin is determined to end another tumultuous and successful season with a personal milestone.

If Mullin scores against Stockport he will become the first player since Alan Shearer to have racked up at least 25 goals in four consecutive seasons across the top five flights of English football. Mullin has spent the past hour thoughtfully discussing his role in the delirium surrounding Wrexham’s rise under the celebrity ownership of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and a range of subjects from finding acceptance and even joy in his son’s autism to how this season began with a fleeting acknowledgment of his seemingly imminent death.

Frontrunner to take charge at Liverpool did not make a big impression as a player but has resemblances to Jürgen Klopp

Liverpool’s move for the Feyenoord coach, Arne Slot, has been described by Ajax fans as “the best news of the year”. Troubled Ajax have been blown away this season, losing 4-0 at home and 6-0 away against their arch-rivals.

So superior were Feyenoord in every area – tactics, intensity, power, unity, intelligence – that it could have been worse for Ajax. Only in their finishing might Feyenoord have done better.

Despite relegation to England’s fourth tier, Cod Army have cast net to be like ‘City Football Group but on a much smaller scale’

Fleetwood United’s celebrations on becoming second division champions in the United Arab Emirates could not be dampened even by a freak thunderstorm in Dubai. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” the captain, Ben Pringle, told the Guardian. “It was the most rain they have had for 75 years. Cars were underwater on the motorway.”

This is not supposed to happen in the glittering city of skyscrapers and excitement but then Fleetwood Town, a club that have just dropped into England’s fourth tier, are not really supposed to be at the head of a stable of international clubs that also includes Waterford FC in Ireland and Western Cape Fleetwood in South Africa.

From Warren Zaïre-Emery to Endrick, we select some of the best players born in 2006. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

• Next Generation 2023: 20 of the best Premier League talents

We pick the best youngsters at each club born between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2007, an age band known as first-year scholars. Check the progress of our classes of 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 … and look at the editions from further back

• Next Generation 2023: 60 of the best talents around the world

Five years ago we picked 80 of the most talented players in the world to follow their progress in a cut-throat business

It is the time of year when we check in on the Next Generation players we picked in 2018 to follow for five years, to assess their progress amid success, setbacks, injuries, trophies won and transfers made.

Next Generation started in 2014 with the aim of showing the difficulties that even the best prospects in the Premier League (we pick one from each club at first-year scholar age) and the rest of the world (we choose 60 born in a specific calendar year) face on their way towards the top.

A defensively minded midfielder who is incredibly strong (he used to be a wrestler) but with an excellent touch to go with his physicality. Made his debut in the Swedish top flight as a 16-year-old last year and captained Sweden as they reached the quarter-finals of the Euro Under-17 tournament in England this summer. Has taken an unusual path to the top. He left the top-flight side IFK Göteborg for sixth division Angered MBIK as a 14-year-old as he felt that he was not getting the right support for his football education. Another Gothenburg club, Häcken, snapped him up in 2017 and he made his senior debut that season. Has signed a new contract with the club from Hisingen until 2021 despite interest from Real Madrid and Benfica and trials at both Manchester clubs.